8/13/2009 – The Arctic Chess Challenge in Tromsø ended last Sunday, with four players sharing the top score of 7.0/9 points. One of them, a 14-year-old lad, stood to make a GM norm. But to do so Ray Robson had to hold the Swedish Champion GM Emanuel Berg to a draw in the final round, with the black pieces. To compound matters Berg was desperate to win. Pictorial report by Misha Savinov.

8/12/2009 – There are 45 GMs, 48 IMs in the Master Tournament, staged to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the world's oldest chess club. After three rounds 12 GMs had a perfect score, after four the number had dropped to two. One game in particular delighted IM Malcolm Pein of the London Chess Center, who sent us his thoughts on the moves of a 15-year-old grandmaster.

8/12/2009 – American IM Ray Robson was one of the four winners of the recently finished Arctic Challenge in Norway. This was achieved by prodigious talent and some excellent preparation. In his Wednesday night Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos shows us the brilliant idea uncorked by Robson against Rasmussen, one that could alter our understanding of the system. Be there at 9 p.m. ET.

8/12/2009 – The fifth FIDE Grand Prix in Armenia has not yet moved into third gear. Today's round saw six draws in seven games: two in less than 30 moves, a 52-move exploration of the Queen's Gambit Declined and a 70-move struggle in a Queen's Indian. Evgeny Alekseev managed to bring the point home against Ernesto Inarkiev, without affecting the leaderboard. Illustrated report.

8/11/2009 – In the second round of the FIDE Grand Prix in Armenia local hero Levon Aronian scored a win over Russian GM Evgeny Alekseev, while Dmitry Jakovenko, who had lost his game in round one, defeated US GM Gata Kamsky. The other games were drawn. You can watch the event live on Playchess.com or the FIDE Grand Prix web site. Full illustrated report.

8/11/2009 – Without error there would be no chess, but that exalted thought will probably be of limited comfort to anyone who has just overlooked a quick mate. The Editor of Chess Notes catalogues a variety of lost opportunities, including the particularly unfortunate case of a player who, instead of giving mate in one with his queen, blundered the piece away.

8/10/2009 – The Swedish GM Ulf Andersson played 310 opponents in 1996, then Andrew Martin took on 321 in 2004. His record was broken in 2005 by Susan Polgar (350 opponents). Currently the record stands at 360, set earlier this year by Kiril Georgiev. Now the 29-year-old Iranian GM Morteza Mahjoob intends to get his name in the Guinness Book next Thursday by taking on 500 opponents.

8/10/2009 – There are at least three great reasons to attend this event, says GM Dejan Bojkov, who reports for us from Greece. Luxembourger Alberto David won the A tournament on tiebreak points. It took place during the hottest part of the year in a beautiful location, with wonderful conditions for the player and great hospitality of the locals. Kavala is in a historically interesting. Big pictorial report.

8/10/2009 – This was the greatest performance of her career: Polish GM Monika Socko shared first place with 14-year-old IM Ray Robson of the US, Bulgarian IM Marijan Petrov and Sweden's top GM Emanuel Berg. But she took the title on tiebreak points and with a performance of 2639. We bring you a final report by IM Torstein Bae with a beautiful Robson game and pictures and videos from Tromsø.

8/10/2009 – The fifth FIDE Grand Prix Series Tournament is being held from August 9 to 23, 2009, in the Armenian health resort of Jermuk and is dedicated to World Champion Tigran Petrosian, who would have turned eighty this year. You can watch the games on the excellent official web site or on Playchess.com. In the first round of the event Peter Leko and Ivan Cheparinov scored wins. Round one report.

8/10/2009 – ... as well as a treat to annotate was the following highlight of last year's European Individual Championship, containing a great deal of combinatorial motifs - deflection, mate patterns, passed pawns, sub-promotion... In this position Black could have uncorked 31...Qc2, and after 32.Nf8+ Kg8 your judgement is required: A) White can throw in the towel. B) Black is not the only one to unpack study-like moves – the game ends in a draw by force. C) keeping his nerves, White also keeps the full point. In the game Black continued 1...exf1+ 32.Qxf1 Kxg6 and lost - why? The solution is here but first ponder it with a larger version of the diagram.

8/9/2009 – Egyptian International Master Aly Yasseen is a well-known and prominent figure in the African and the Arab chess worlds. His chess achievements are many, among which include being a two-time Egyptian Champion. He now works as a technical director and coach in the Smouha Club Chess Academy (SCCA) in Alexandria, Egypt. He shares his views in this exclusive interview.